Wednesday, 21 October 2015

While this show was billed as a solo Simone Felice gig, the
overarching view at its conclusion was how effectively the emerging talent of
Anna Mitchel had been blended into the evening’s offerings. The pair of artists
had only commenced their creative partnership earlier this year and the chemistry
on show at Birmingham’s Glee Club demonstrated an outstanding merging of two
contrasting talents. The enigmatic Simone and unflustered Anna worked in
harmonious tandem to present a bucketful of songs from all three phases of his
career – solo work, Duke and the King songs and older Felice Brothers material.

Anna, who hails from Cork, had the honour of appearing on
stage throughout the duration of the show courtesy of opening the evening with
a few of her own songs before proceeding to accompanying Simone for the main
set. Granted time for around half a dozen numbers, Anna wasted little time in
steering the audience towards her cultured piano playing providing the backdrop
to her cross genre songs. There is a heavily leaning Americana stance to Anna’s
delivery of folk-styled songs. This was highlighted in the title of her first
song ‘Tennessee’, and she later
drifted more into country territory with a quarter pace cover version of the
ever popular ‘Jolene’. Putting genre aside
for a moment, Anne is, no more – no less, the model singer-songwriter who
undoubtedly gets her inspiration and influence from the right sources. Apart
from a new song, titled ‘Radio Waves’
and based on chasing that elusive hit, the rest of Anna’s set came from her
highly praised debut record DOWN TO THE BONE with perhaps the highlight being ‘When My Ship Comes In’.

Simone Felice has a strong following in Birmingham,
appearing twice in the city at alternative venues last year. Those dates were
in support of his brilliant album STRANGERS which was a deserved entrant in
many Top Album lists of 2014. Three excellent songs from that release continued
to impress during this intimate show with barely a hair splitting the audience effect
of listening to ‘If You Go To LA’, Bye
Bye Palenville’ and ‘The Gallows’.
Having only caught Simone’s band show last year, it was a delight to see his
material transcend without blemish to a solo delivery via just acoustic guitar.
Simone’s voice nourished the songs and his almost contorted stage presence
gives them a motioned soulful gloss. He mixes a touch eccentricity with bags of
humble appreciation to earn a standing ovation at the end of his pre-encore
set.

The audience appeared to really get into material from his ‘Duke’
days with ‘Water Spider’, ‘The Morning I
Get To Hell’, Union Street’ and show closer ‘If You Ever Get Famous’ accruing loud and appreciative praise. In
fact the love towards Simone was forthcoming from the opening bars of ‘Courtney Love’ which headed the set list
and it wasn’t too long before we were enjoying ‘Charade’, ‘New York Times’ and ‘You and
I Belong’, all from the 2012 self-titled debut album. ‘Mercy’ and ‘Don’t Wake The
Scarecrow’ represented an earlier phase of Simone’s career which has been
threaded with a consistent strand of high quality.

Simone’s current UK tour is in support of a new live double
album recorded in the iconic village of Woodstock, located in his home state of
New York. It was this project which helped cement the collaboration with Anna,
a match up that has been extended to tours either side of the pond. Anna almost
had a steadying influence on Simone and flitted between harmonium, piano and
tambourine to support his songs, not forgetting exquisite harmony backing
vocals. The mutual gratitude of this liaison radiated from both performers and
the balancing of Anna’s smooth Celtic influence etched itself on Simone’s
exalted poetic appeal. Any move in the aftermath to double bill this show can
start right here with ultimately Simone Felice and Anna Mitchell combining for
a splendid evening of entertainment.

Three Chords and the Truth UK

Take the cliche as your starting point before branching out where the music matters. A blog using the medium of 100% original writing to convey some personal thoughts on live and recorded music through the prism of the time honoured review.

About Me

This blog had its inception in January 2012 and is designed to share personal thoughts on music that appeals. These are through highly filtered album and gig reviews which distinctly reflect personal preference. All reviewed recordings are from submitted material thus only reflect a portion of current taste, albeit generally representative. Live reviews tend to be the bulk of those attended. These do include some guest list spots for performers and events that appeal. Time constraints and ethos will always dictate a positive tone that is well served by the offline filter system. Fundamentally these are the sole thoughts of one individual and in essence a 'personal vanity project'.